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 Brant Coyne scored a career-high 16 points, 10 in a pivotal
third-quarter run, and added a team-high eight rebounds to lift
Lincoln to a rematch with the Crusaders. The junior, who seemed
indecisive early in the contest, scored the first seven points for
the Railers in the third quarter in the midst of a 13-3 run. Coyne's
points came from inside on nice spin moves in the lane and, when
left alone by the Lancer defense, he hit from each corner from behind
the arc.
The first quarter of the afternoon contest was a back-and-forth
affair with no team holding more than a three-point advantage.
Junior Jordan Nelson scored seven of his game-high 19 points in the
opening stanza.
Lincoln held a 14-13 lead at the end of the quarter and certainly
sensed this contest would be more of a battle than the previous
day's matchup with MacArthur.
The Lancers played well to start the second quarter, using a 6-0 run
to take their last lead of the night at 17-14. A 3 from
Smith tied the game at 17, and Coyne's basket put
Lincoln up 19-17.
After a tying basket from Belleville East, Ben Brackney gave the
Railers the lead at 22-19. Brackney, who tallied nine points, saw
his consecutive game streak of double figures end at 13. However,
Lincoln coach Neil Alexander saw no fault with the senior's
performance.
"He had a nice line tonight with six
rebounds and four assists," praised Alexander. "His only job out
there is to help this team win, and he did that tonight." Brackney, after scoring a career-high 26 points the night before, was held to 3-of-14 shooting but
did not let his lack of scoring affect his other responsibilities on
the court.
Lincoln should have taken a six-point lead into halftime, but the
Lancers ran their end-of-quarter offense to perfection, getting a
put-back to close the Railer lead to 25-21 at the break. The Railers
did not shoot well in the first half, connecting on only 38 percent
while allowing Belleville East to hit for 50 percent.
The defense played much more cohesively in the second half and, as
with Railer teams of the past, that defense generated a great deal
of the Lincoln offense. Coyne led the way offensively with 10
points, as well as steals and blocks. In the first half, the Lancer man-to-man defense
was prone to play off Coyne. The Railers used
that to their advantage as Coyne hit from outside while Belleville
East defenders tried to find him.
One of the most pivotal plays of the game came at the end of the
third quarter as Belleville East had cut the Lincoln lead to
38-31. The Railers ran the clock down to the final seconds of the
quarter and found a wide-open Reuben Bowlby in the lane. The senior
allowed for his defender to bite on the fake as Bowlby went up, made
the basket and was fouled. After making the free throw, Lincoln
enjoyed a 10-point cushion at 41-31.
The Railers got the possession to start the fourth quarter and
Nelson got the quarter off to a good start by draining
a 3 and then making a steal resulting in a layup, and Lincoln's
lead had quickly grown to 15 at 46-31.
Both teams had spurts throughout the course of the quarter, but
the Lancers got no closer than 11 at 52-41. Nelson scored nine
points in the quarter to help put the contest in the win column for
the Railers.
It was Lincoln's best performance of the season from beginning to
end. There were still issues, but with the defense playing better,
this team looked more like the team we've been waiting to see.
[to top of second column] |
The challenge will come Wednesday when they face Althoff again.
The Railers knocked off the Crusaders 53-50 back in late November at
Roy S. Anderson gymnasium. However, if Lincoln can shoot as they did in the second half (12 of 18, 67 percent), things
will look good for the Railers.
Wednesday's first game starts at 1 p.m. If they win, they will
play in the championship game at 8 p.m. A loss will place them in
the third-place game at 6:30 p.m. As always, you can read all about
the Railers here at www.lincolndailynews.com.
___ LINCOLN (58)
Nelson 7-13 2-2 19, Coyne 6-7 2-2 16, Smith 5-8 0-0 11, Brackney
3-14 0-1 9, Bowlby 1-1 1-1 3, Kirby 0-1 0-0 0, Cosby 0-0 0-0 0,
Turner 0-0 0-0 0. Team 22-44 5-6 58. 3-point field goals 9-21
(Nelson 3-7, Brackney 3-9, Coyne 2-2, Smith 1-2, Kirby 0-1).
Rebounds 26 (Coyne 8), assists 14 (Smith, Brackney 4), steals 7 (3
tied with 2), turnovers 7.
Belleville East (43)
Gillmore 14, Poston 12, Goldthree 12, Stevenson 3, Coleman 2. Team
15-35 9-19 43. 3-point field goals 4-11, rebounds 23, assists 4,
steals 2, turnovers 11.
Lincoln 14-11-16-17
B. East 13-8-10-12 Notes:
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Nelson's 3-point streak continues at 36 games as well as having
one in 48 of his last 50 games.
-
Although Brackney's streak of double-figure games ended at 13,
Nelson continues at 13. Smith has scored 10 or more in
four straight games.
-
Brackney has moved into 10th all-time in
3-pointers made with
115, moving past Alex Anderson (113). Next up is Jeremy Bruce with
121.
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This is first game the Railers outrebounded their opponents.
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Nelson has scored 114 of his points in the first and
fourth quarters combined, while Brackney has scored 99 of his points in the
second and third quarters.
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Lincoln's free-throw woes seem to be going away. Over the past
three contests, the Railers are shooting 82 percent (31-38), while
their opponents are hitting only 53 percent (21-40).
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Only three more wins to 600 career for
coach Neil Alexander.
[Special report from JEFF BENJAMIN]
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